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for Housing
October
2, 1998
(Revised Jan, 2017 - format change only)
Hi
stalwart fans. It's the diaries again. There's been a gap because I
actually had to go to work. Too bad, I was getting used to the
house-husband thing.
Today's
story concerns looking for a place to live. The good, the bad and the
unfinished.
Our
process was to use a real estate agent named Nadia. Good English.
Good recommendations. In the final analysis, she has exceeded all our
expectations. (We'd probably be on the street without her.)
Three
weeks ago, we gave her our price range for rentals ($1,500 to $2,000
per month for those of you that are REALLY nosey). We were assured
this was an adequate budget -- but people do spend 2 or 3 times this
for "Western" apartments. Ouch! ![Loading...](images/D981002_02_style-tb.JPG) ![Loading...](images/D981002_01_view-tb.JPG)
Nadia
put together a list of 5 apartments. The first two were in the same
building. The first, which we called the French-Ukraine-Boroque unit
was almost OK. Wonderful view, interesting furniture (Pict
#2) and barely enough room. The second apartment was "almost"
remodeled, had the same view(almost) but was way too small. Besides,
the building was OLD (100=150 years) and a bit scary.
Apartment
#3 had a great view but really weird decoration and
finishing. Here's Marianne looking at the kitchen (middle) asking
why the oven wasn't in the hole under the cook top. Or anywhere. No
real good answer. On to the next candidate. #4 was an old building,
small rooms, busy street and vintage decoration.
![Loading...](images/D981002_03_view-tb.JPG) ![Loading...](images/D981002_04_oven-tb.JPG) ![Loading...](images/D981002_05_style-tb.JPG)
The
final apartment was cheapest, closest to Marianne's school, lots of
storage and a good size. It even had a nice kitchen. That's
the good news. The bad news is that all the storage was stuffed -
tools, clothes, books, pickled tomatoes, etc., etc. It wasn't clear
the owner COULD make good on his promise to clean it all out. And the
cat smell was overpowering. So much for renting.
Then we
shifted to possible purchases. The company had talked about buying
and we thought we'd investigate. Nadia made another list. One of the
first ones we saw was an unfinished refurbishment (they're called
"remonts" here) of an old building very near our current apartment
and the school. We fell in love with the potential (all new, custom
finished, close to school) and the view. Of course the
bedroom still needed work and the porch did seem to be
hanging a zillion feet in the air. But we thought it was
our dream "loft". We looked at several other places but none compared
to our not-quite-done penthouse.
![Loading...](images/D981002_07_view-tb.JPG) ![Loading...](images/D981002_08_bedrm-tb.JPG) ![Loading...](images/D981002_09_porch-tb.JPG)
I
almost got fired over it. I told my boss we wanted to buy, if the
company would finance (mortgages are unknown here. It's cash and keys
only), At first he was positive so we got our hopes up (and started
furnishing it!) Then he got sane advice and changed his mind. We were
most upset. Marianne would have throttled him if he were less than
5,000 miles away. I didn't want to be unemployed in Ukraine so I said
"OK".
(2017:Ironically, within two years we would have bought and remodeled a
place just across the street. And I was not fired.)
We
looked at a few more places, large (=expensive), small and in
between. Finally, we picked one of the First Five. Stay
tuned.
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